On this day, Shane Doan is playfully mocking the ego of newly named All-Star Keith Yandle.

"Guys keep coming up to me, 'What are we going to do with him?'" Doan mused. "He doesn't get along with one guy in the room. Nobody likes him."

New center Gilbert Brule is entertaining a reporter by sharing details of his unlikely May meeting, when he picked up a hitchhiker near his West Vancouver home who happened to be U2 frontman Bono.

"I'm like 'What are you doing out here?'" Brule said. "And I'm thinking to myself, 'You can't afford a cab?'"

As Brule, a big music fan, learned, timing is everything. No one knows that better than the Coyotes, who hope that a healthy locker room and a little momentum can translate to victories during a key stretch of games. They face the Detroit Red Wings Thursday night at Jobing.com Arena.

"We've got to take care of business now," Doan said before Wednesday's ugly loss at Anaheim. "We've managed to stay around .500 but we know we could be much better than that. We've got to make sure we make some hay and go after it."

The Coyotes' next six games and eight of nine are at home. Although their road record is slightly better than their home mark, the numbers are a bit misleading. Only once since Nov.26 did the team have back-to-back home games. It's hard to find your footing at home when you're almost always heading to the airport right after the game.

This is a team easy to embrace because of all the adversity tossed its way. It has been hamstrung much of the season with ownership issues that have left the team's payroll under the salary cap and have prevented management from fully addressing depth issues. When injuries come into play, as they have for the Coyotes, depth is everything.

And not to go all conspiracy theorist but it sure feels as if the NHL, which temporarily owns the team, did the Coyotes no favors with this schedule.

These challenges force the team to play with a very small margin of error.

The Coyotes remain in the hunt for the postseason but need to take advantage of this home-friendly stretch.

With a little more than a third of their schedule remaining, the Coyotes sit 11th out of 15 Western Conference teams battling for eight playoff spots. The race for the final three is tight, with Minnesota, Colorado, Dallas, Calgary and the Coyotes all within three points of each other entering Wednesday's games.

Overcoming depth issues are key. Injuries, including those to Martin Hanzal and Boyd Gordon, hurt. Key, too, is improving on an abysmal power-play unit that converts only 12.9 percent of the time, a number only the Canadiens can "top."

The Coyotes have delivered encouraging signs, too.

Several of their best -- Doan, Radim Vrbata, Ray Whitney -- are playing well recently, a sign that the team is performing the way it was designed to be.

Nine days after posting his first hat trick in a 5-1 victory over the Islanders, Doan scored two more in a 6-1 victory over Colorado.

Vrbata has six goals and nine points in his past nine games.

"This last little stretch here could be the best I've seen Vrby play," coach Dave Tippett said. "He's elevated his game now that's he's taken it to another level. He's confident with the puck, he wants the puck.

"He has the puck so much, he gives himself so many opportunities to score. He's engaged in all parts of the game."

Whitney, meanwhile, is tied for the team's scoring lead.

Considering the uncertainty the Coyotes felt before the season with the departure of Ilya Bryzgalov, goalie Mike Smith has been a key figure in keeping the team afloat recently.

Before Wednesday's 6-2 loss to Anaheim, Smith had allowed just six goals in his previous five starts but had won only twice because of the team's offensive shortcomings. Some teams thrive down the stretch by riding a hot goalie. Is Smith capable of being that guy?

"I believe so," Tippett said. "He was a goaltender in the past who was looking for an opportunity to fit in and he's come in and fit in well. He's a great teammate turning into a very, very good player."

The Coyotes need him.

Optimism may sound strange for a team that has won only three times in its previous 13 games heading into Thursday night's meeting wth Detroit but there have been positive signs.

Start with Monday's victory over Colorado, one of the team's more-complete victories of the season. Add to the mix the right combination of players that has made this "the best locker room I've seen here in years," one team insider said.

But the Coyotes need to step it up now, when their schedule has morphed from brutal to bearable.

"I've been joking with the guys that I came at the right time," said Brule, who the team claimed last week off re-entry waivers.